Another win away from home

Success on the road has been the Milwaukee Panthers forte in the early part of the season, as they are now 5-1 away from the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Panthers (5-2) were able to record their fifth road victory against Tennessee Tech, winning 70-63.

Three Panther players were able to score in double digits to claim the victory. Austin Arians led the way with 17 points, while Matt Tiby and Kyle Kelm scored 14 apiece. Arians and Kelm, who made his first start of the season, were able to record 12 of their points in the second half.

In the first half both teams struggled from the field. The Panthers shot 34.6 percent (9-26), while making 25 percent (2-8) of their three point attempts. While the Golden Eagles only made 34.4 percent (11-32) of their field goal attempts including 22.2 percent (2-9) from three-point territory.

With the poor shooting performance from both teams, neither one of them was able to pull away. It was back and forth the entire 20 minutes, but Tennessee Tech was able to have the slight advantage going into halftime with a 28-24 lead.

The second half was the complete opposite as Milwaukee dominated most of the half. With only seven minutes remaining in the game the Panthers had a 10-point lead, and even pushed it to 12 a few minutes later.

This did not stop the Golden Eagles, as they were able to claw their way back reducing the lead to only three points with 1:32 remaining.

Timely free throw shooting was key as Mitch Roelke made four free throws in the final seconds to secure the win for Milwaukee.

Milwaukee was able to finish at 42 percent from the field after shooting 50 percent in the second half. They did struggle from long range making only 31.3 percent of their shots, while also only making 76.7 percent (23-30) from the charity strip.

This game was sloppy as Milwaukee committed 18 turnovers while Tennessee Tech had 16. Milwaukee also continues to get outrebounded, as the Golden Eagles grabbed 44 boards compared to the Panthers 36.

Fouls were a big story in this game as Tennessee Tech committed 24 while Milwaukee had 23. Technical fouls were even handed out as Dwan Caldwell and Josiah Moore each had one for the Golden Eagles, while Tiby was given two for the Panthers, causing him to be ejected for the final 16 seconds of the game.

Milwaukee continues to record victories on the road, but this was not their best performance and they will need to improve in order to beat tougher competition.

The Panthers will now return home to play Judson University Tuesday night at 7 o’clock at the U.S. Cellular Arena.